Richard Yates (Illinois)

Richard Yates (18 January 1815-27 November 1873) was a member of the US House of Representatives (W-IL 7) from 4 March 1851 to 3 March 1853 (succeeding Thomas L. Harris and preceding James C. Allen) and from IL-6 from 4 March 1853 to 3 March 1855 (succeeding Thompson Campbell and preceding Thomas L. Harris), Governor from 14 January 1861 to 16 January 1865 (succeeding John Wood and preceding Richard J. Oglesby), and a US Senator from 4 March 1865 to 3 March 1871 (succeeding William Alexander Richardson and preceding John A. Logan).

Biography
Richard Yates was born in Warsaw, Kentucky in 1815, and he moved to Illinois in 1831. He became a lawyer in 1837 and served in the state legislature from 1842 to 1845 and from 1848 to 1849 as a Whig. In 1851, he was elected to the US House of Representatives, and he became a Republican due to his opposition to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; he narrowly lost re-election in 1854 due to his representing a pro-slavery district. In 1860, he was elected Governor, and he was very active in raising volunteers at the start of the American Civil War. From 1865 to 1871, Yates went on to serve as a US Senator, and he died in St. Louis in 1873.